ても / でも (Even If) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Conjunction
Essential Meaning: Even if / Although
Construction:
- (Verb / い-Adjective / な-Adjective) て-Form + も
- E.g. 話しても [Even if X speaks]
- E.g. 食べても [Even if X eats]
- E.g. 高くても [Even if X is expensive]
- E.g. 静かでも [Even if X is quiet]
- Noun + でも
- E.g. 先生でも [Even if X is a teacher]
Notes:
- ても / でも (Even If) has essentially the same meaning as the English expressions “Even if” or “Even though“. It conveys the idea that X is the case even if Y is the case. Note that the overall tense of the sentence is determined by the final predicate.
- E.g. 中山さんは本を買っても読みません。[Even if Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.]
- E.g. 私は四時間歩いても疲れなかった。[Even though I walked for four hours, I didn’t get tired.]
- The idiomatic expression てもいいですか? is used to request permission for something. The reply would be either yes (はい、いいです。) or no (いいえ、行けません。).
- E.g. A: タバコを吸ってもいいですか。B: はい、いいです。[A: Is it all right if I smoke? B: Yes, it’s all right.]
- E.g. A: タバコを吸ってもいいですか。B: いいえ、行けません。[A: Is it all right if I smoke? B: Not, it’s not.]
- Question words such as だれ [Who], なに [What], and どこ [Where] can be prefixed to a ても / でも construction to say “No matter X” (i.e. “No matter who“, “No matter what“, “No matter how much“, etc.).
- E.g. 誰に話しても [No matter who X speaks to]
- E.g. 何を話しても [No matter what X speaks about]
- E.g. どこで話しても [No matter where X speaks]
- E.g. いつ話しても [No matter when X speaks]
- E.g. どう話しても [No matter how X speaks]
- E.g. どんなに話しても [No matter how much X speaks]
- ても / でも (Even If) is comparable but not identical to けれど and のに (Even Though). けれど and のに (Even Though) are equivalent to the English “Although“, while ても / でも (Even If) is equivalent to the English “Even if“. In other words, ても / でも (Even if) has more of a hypothetical interpretation. One other difference is that けれど and のに (Even Though) can not replace ても / でも (Even If) in a Question Word + ても / でも construction.
- E.g. 中山さんは本を買っても読みません。 [Even if Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.] This example comes across as hypothetical. Nakayama-san may or may not actually buy books.
- E.g. 中山さんは本を買うけれど / のに読みません。[Although Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.] This example comes across as more literal. Nakayama-san does in fact buy books.
- E.g. *中山さんは何を食べる けれど / のに [No matter what Nakayama-san eats] けれど and のに (Even Though) can not be used in a Question Word + ても / でも construction.
Example Sentences:
私は雨が降っても行く。[Even if it rains, I will go.]
私は寒くても出かける。[Even if it’s cold, I will go out.]
僕がトムでも同じことをしただろう。[Even if I were Tom, I would have probably done the same thing.]
中山さんは本を買っても読みません。 [Even if Nakayama-san buys books, he doesn’t read them.]
私は四時間歩いても疲れなかった。[Even though I walked for four hours, I didn’t get tired.]
何を食べてもおいしいです。[No matter what I eat, it tastes delicious.]
誰に聞いてもわからなかった。[No matter who I asked, I couldn’t understand.]
A: タバコを吸ってもいいですか。B: はい、いいです。[A: Is it all right if I smoke? B: Yes, it’s all right.]
どんなに丈夫でも体には気をつけたほうがいい。[No matter how strong your body is, you should be careful.]
井上さんが先輩でもぼくははっきり言うつもりだ。[Even if Inoue-san is my senior, I intend to speak to him directly.]
WILD Examples:
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